Human cortical encoding of pitch in tonal and non-tonal languages

Yuanning Li; Claire Tang; Junfeng Lu; Jinsong Wu; Edward F. Chang

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21430-x

Nature Communications (Feb 2021)

Human cortical encoding of pitch in tonal and non-tonal languages

Yuanning Li,
Claire Tang,
Junfeng Lu,
Jinsong Wu,
Edward F. Chang

Affiliations

Yuanning Li: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California
Claire Tang: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California
Junfeng Lu: Brain Function Laboratory, Neurosurgical Institute of Fudan University
Jinsong Wu: Brain Function Laboratory, Neurosurgical Institute of Fudan University
Edward F. Chang: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21430-x
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Different languages rely on different vocal sounds to convey meaning. Here the authors show that language-general coding of pitch occurs in the non-primary auditory cortex for both tonal (Mandarin Chinese) and non-tonal (English) languages, with some language specificity on the population level.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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